One of the creepiest scenes in the fantasy series House of the Dragon was when the sneaky spymaster Larys Strong pleasured himself while looking at Alicent Hightower’s feet. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being into feet, and for Westeros, it’s quite tame.
What was truly harrowing about the scene was the fact that Alicent, despite being queen and one of the most powerful people in the realm, was still essentially forced to be subservient to a man. Now Matthew Needham, who plays Larys, has shared his thoughts on the scene.
“I don’t think you could do a scene like that and not expect the internet to lose its mind,” Needham told People. “But that is the thing about this job: the oddest, most twisted things become normalized really quickly. Monday, I’m cutting out someone’s tongue and then on Tuesday, it’s the feet scene.”
“I don’t think it’s a foot fetish like we understand it,” he continued. “I don’t think he’s sexually aroused by feet. It’s more that he’s making her show her feet. You know, this man who’s had this club foot disability all his life is making this incredibly powerful person show him her feet.”
“It’s such a power move,” he finished. “It’s a way of reasserting control, putting someone in a box. It’s a display of dominance, really making someone feel as ashamed of that part of her body as he does of his. It’s associating her feet with something traumatic, which is what he does.”
So basically, yeah, we were right. Larys isn’t really into feet. He’s the type of person who gets off on power — a lot like the Game of Thrones character Littlefinger — and he enjoyed having control over the queen. If you enjoyed the House of the Dragon TV series, then you’re in luck; we have an article breaking down everything you need to know about the House of the Dragon season 2 release date.
If that’s not enough, we also have guides on all the major House of the Dragon characters, and we’ve broken down the rather confusing Targaryen family tree.